


Just Wanna Be With You

by mddnapstablook



Category: South Park
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, and stan and ike are mentioned, kenny and sheila and gerald are all there for like a second, ldr because kyle moved to cali to attend college
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 16:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16201682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mddnapstablook/pseuds/mddnapstablook
Summary: Kyle returns to South Park for Thanksgiving break with the intention of surprising Cartman.





	Just Wanna Be With You

Kyle bounced his leg anxiously in his seat as he passed the green road sign signifying that South Park was just one mile away. He watched the familiar blur of snow white and forest green out the passenger window, content to let his mom fill the silence with talk of their family and her friends. He’d turned his phone back on as soon as he was off the plane, and now it was taking everything in him not to whip it out and ruin his carefully laid surprise. 

He did end up taking his phone out of his pocket, but he managed to resist the urge to make any hasty text messages. Instead, he re-read the last few he’d gotten from Cartman, which were mostly of him complaining that Kyle was ignoring him. Ha! 

He couldn’t hide the small smile that came as he thought about Cartman, and looking over, Sheila noticed it, too. “You know your little brother is going to be so happy you decided to come home for Thanksgiving after all. We were all so worried we wouldn’t get to see you until after Hanukkah.” It was her polite way of saying, ‘You’d better say hello to Ike before you even think of running off to see that boyfriend of yours, young man.’

“I missed Ike more than I thought I would,” Kyle replied, which seemed to please her well enough. At least, she switched gears to asking how school was going and whether he was getting enough to eat. He did his best to appease her with answers for the rest of the slow drive into their sleepy little mountain town. Nothing at all like the sunny city in California he’d spent the past few months at.

Of course he was excited to see Ike, and he really had missed him a ton while he was at Stanford, but boyfriend trumped bratty teenage brother any day. 

Still, when they rolled up to the Broflovski driveway, Kyle obediently retrieved his own bags and took them inside instead of booking it down the street like he really, really wanted to. Inside, Gerald was seated at the couch and unbothered by Kyle’s arrival. He didn’t even stand up.

“Welcome home, Kyle.” he greeted, eyes not leaving the television in front of him. 

Kyle fought the urge to roll his eyes at his dad’s warm welcome. “Yeah, thanks.” He wasted no time making his way for the stairs. “Is Ike home?” 

“No, he went out with some friends. He should be home before dinner.” Gerald answered.

“Thank God,” Kyle whispered to himself as he rushed upstairs with renewed energy. He didn’t bother unpacking, just digging through his bags for a change of clothes and slipping them on as quickly as he could. It was a small town and there was no telling if anyone had noticed if he was back yet, and if word got back to Cartman before he got to see the dumb look on his face he’d be beyond disappointed.

With a rushed ‘I’ll be back!’, Kyle was out the door and all but skipping down the fucking block. He willed himself to calm down, and took to observing his childhood neighborhood for any changes. In his haste to leave, Kyle had completely forgotten to ask if Stan was back yet. He squinted up at the window he knew belonged to his best friend as if the answer could be found there as he passed the Marsh residence. 

Then finally, finally Kyle had arrived at Cartman’s house. He absently thought that the last time he’d been this nervous to knock on his door was when he was 17 and had been convinced by Stan that it wouldn’t be the worst fucking idea in the world to confess his feelings to Eric Cartman.

“I’m just glad you’re finally caught up. The rest of us have known you two are obsessed with each other since, I don’t know, like, third grade probably.” he’d said, the night before. Kyle had argued about the definition for the word ‘obsessed’ for about thirty minutes afterward, and then he agreed to listen to Stan’s advice, if only because Stan was his best friend. (To Stan’s credit, things did go pretty well.)

In the present, Kyle knocked on the door. He felt his heart pounding in his head to an uncomfortable degree, so he tried a few deep breaths to settle his nerves. ‘It’s just Cartman, it’s just Cartman, why are you so anxious?’ As if anxiety ever really made sense.

After what felt like an eternity, Kyle heard the heavy footsteps he’d been listening for. Heart pounding, he smoothed down his shirt and tried to look like he wasn’t suddenly terrified that this was a bad idea. Maybe Cartman didn’t even want to see him-

The door opened. Cartman was halfway through his typical disgruntled, ‘what do you want?’ when he realized just who was standing in his doorway. His mouth dropped into a shocked ‘o’, and that was it, that was the dumb stupid face Kyle was hoping for. The face that meant that Kyle had gotten one over on him, had managed to do something that a master manipulator like him hadn’t anticipated. It was more satisfying than sex in that instant, if he was completely honest with himself.

And then Cartman was sweeping Kyle into a big, bone-crushing hug. “Dude, what the fuck?” he pulled back with a huge grin on his face. “You said you weren’t coming back for Thanksgiving.”

“I lied,” Kyle replied, smile splitting his face. He felt stupid for even worrying for a second that Cartman wouldn’t want to see him. “I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, mission fucking accomplished.” Cartman shook his head with a still slightly dazed smile. “Come on, it’s freezing. Let’s go inside. Fuckin’, coming over with no warning. I’m wearing sweatpants, dude.” 

Kyle reluctantly disentangled himself from Cartman’s warm arms. Without his personal space heater wrapped around him, Kyle could admit it was really cold and wasted no time following Cartman in. “Like I care what you’re wearing.” Kyle liked the grey sweatpants anyway. Sue him.  
“But I care,” Cartman argued. Kyle rolled his eyes but otherwise didn’t reply as he took off his coat and gloves. They made their way into the kitchen, where Cartman had been in the middle of making… something. It smelled sweet enough to send Kyle into a diabetic coma, anyway. 

“Your parents know you’re home, right?” Cartman asked, peering inside of his oven. Kyle couldn’t tell what was inside. 

“Yeah, my mom is the one who picked me up from the airport. I didn’t tell anyone else because I didn’t want you to find out.” Kyle explained. Cartman turned away from the oven to look at Kyle. 

“Not even Stan?”

“Do you think I could have told Stan and have you not find out? No, dumbass. Ike doesn’t even know yet.” Kyle felt his face flare with heat. “I wanted to see you first.”

In two large steps Kyle was wrapped in Cartman’s arms again, his soft lips pressed against his with a sense of urgency. When Cartman pulled back it was with flushed cheeks. “Oh my, God. I love you. But I fuckin’ hate you because now I can’t just show up in California to surprise you because you already did it.”

Kyle snorted. “What? That’s not how it works. You can totally still come to California to see me.” Kyle paused, and then amended his statement. “As long as you warn me first.”

Cartman tutted. “Now how is that fair, Kyle? You certainly didn’t warn me ahead of time.”

“Well, yeah, because that would defeat the purpose of it being a surprise. But that-”

“Exactly! If I told you before I showed up-”

“-’s different! I’m busy at college-”

“-oh, and I’m not busy? I’ll have you know I was in the middle of something before you showed up.”

Kyle ripped himself out of Cartman’s still pleasantly warm arms. “Alright, what’s so important that I’m interrupting?” he asked, crossing his arms. 

Any frustration that had been on Cartman’s face suddenly evaporated, and he turned his eyes away from Kyle’s face. “Well,” he started. 

From the basement, a series of explosions went off, most sounding kind of like fireworks, if Kyle thought about it. It made Kyle jump, and Cartman continued focusing at a spot on the ground as they listened to the noises coming from the basement. When the sounds subsided, they stood in silence for a few extra seconds. 

“Cartman-”

“It’s fine. The sprinklers will put the fire out.” Kyle was sure it was meant to be reassuring, but it really wasn’t. 

The basement door opened, smoke billowing out as Kenny shut the door behind him. His hoodie was scorched, but true to his word, Kenny was dripping wet from the sprinklers. Still, neither of those things seemed to bother him as he shook his head like a dog from a bath and smiled widely at Kyle. “Hey man, I didn’t think you’d be coming back for break. Stan’s gonna be stoked.” 

“Could one of you tell me what the hell is going on down there?” Kyle did his absolute best to keep his voice level. 

“Oh, that? I just set the fireworks off by accident.” Kenny replied as he sidestepped past Cartman to get into the freezer. He pulled out a bag of frozen peas and placed it on the seriously-beginning-to-look-like-he’d-need-a-hospital burn on his arm. “But don’t worry. The sprinklers put out the fire.”

Cartman nodded fiercely. 

Kyle pulled a seat out at the table and sat down. “Okay,” he started. “Why are there fireworks in the basement?”

“Kyle, you just got here.” Cartman said calmly. “We could stand here playing twenty questions about the illegal fireworks in my basement, or we could, you know, actually enjoy each other’s company like normal boyfriends.”

Kyle immediately wanted to argue, but he took a second to go over the facts first. 

Kyle had hoped Cartman’s days of scheming were in the past. After getting together, the times in between his crazy misadventures had gotten longer. There was still the occasional backslide, but Kyle wasn’t expecting perfection. To find out he was working on something now, when Kyle was all the way in California kind of… worried him. He wasn’t there to help when Cartman got too in over his head like when they were younger, and the thought made him fill with all sorts of worst-case scenarios. What if Cartman had gotten hurt, or in trouble? There would be no telling when Kyle would even find out, it would be up to whoever to remember to tell him, and by then there’d be nothing Kyle could do.

However, there was apparently no immediate danger, as both Kenny and Cartman seemed relatively unbothered by what had just transpired in the basement. And he had to admit, he didn’t really want to play ‘Mom Friend’ or ‘overprotective boyfriend’, (which worked for Cartman way better than it did him, anyway,) when he’d literally just arrived in town. Also, with all the anxiety of making sure his plan went right, he hadn’t really noticed how tired he was, but with the non issue solved, he could feel how heavy his limbs were with exhaustion. Really, all he wanted was to go upstairs to Cartman’s room and cuddle in bed for the foreseeable future. 

And, to Cartman’s credit, it wasn’t like this was the first time Cartman had done something inadvisable. He knew how to take care of himself. Kyle was almost certainly worrying too much. The distance had gotten to him more than he thought if he was acting this melodramatic over what could, in Cartman’s mind at least, be nothing more than some weird hobby. 

It did bother him that he didn’t know what was going on though. Isn’t that something you should tell the person you’re dating? 

Kyle sighed. Enough introspection. “Okay, fine. Will you at least tell me about it later?”

“Of course, Kyle.” Cartman promised, not sounding the least bit sincere. Kyle glared at him to fight back the dumb smile that threatened to overtake his face when Cartman grinned at him. 

The silence stretched for only a second before Kenny interrupted, setting his bag of peas on the table. “Well, I guess I should let you two lovebirds get reacquainted. It was good to see you, Kyle. I’ll let Stan know you’re here, since I assume you haven’t yet.”

Leave it to Kenny to call him out like that. “Thanks, Kenny,” he said anyway. “Tomorrow maybe we can all hang out? I still need to go home and unpack and everything after I’m done here.”

Kenny agreed easily as he left, throwing out a cheeky, “use protection!” as he said his goodbyes.

As if Kyle could even think about sex when he was about to fall asleep as it was. The only thing he’d be doing in Cartman’s bed was snoring, if he had his say on the matter. 

Kenny had left though, so it was once more just Cartman and Kyle alone together. Kyle stood, yawning, and wasted no time burying his face in Cartman’s chest. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Cartman patted Kyle’s side. “You go on up, I have to take these out of the oven.” Cartman replied. Kyle had completely forgotten that Cartman was baking anything. He pulled away so he could tug on his oven mitts. 

“What is it?” he asked, not sure if he really wanted the answer. Cartman was amazing at cooking and baking, but he had a severe sweet tooth and a lot of his desserts were in Kyle’s opinion, way too sugary. Just thinking about what abomination of a dish it could be made his stomach roll with nausea at the memory of some of his less successful attempts at creative baking. 

Opening the oven, Cartman pulled out a tray of cupcakes. Innocent enough, they looked like regular chocolate cupcakes. It just seemed too simple. He eyed Cartman curiously as he set them on the cooling rack. 

“They have pieces of Candy bars thrown in.” Cartman explained. 

Kyle cringed. “Ew.” Candy bars and cupcakes were all well and good, but together? He imagined they’d probably be way too chewy. 

“Hey! I’m a culinary genius, Kyle! You wish you had the imagination and skill that I possess in the kitchen.” Cartman slapped his oven mitts on the table for emphasis. 

Kyle rolled his eyes again. “Whatever. Come on, I’m tired,” he didn’t whine, contrary to what Cartman would say later. He grabbed Cartman’s hand and started pulling him towards the stairs. 

Cartman chuckled. “I told you to go ahead already. Not my fault you’re impatient and can’t stand to be away from me. Though, I suppose I can’t blame you, I am pretty irresistible.” 

“Whatever you need to tell yourself, Cartman.” 

Within minutes, Kyle was tucked between the wall and Cartman’s body, cocooned in his bed filled with an unnecessary number of pillows and worn blankets. Cartman’s room hadn’t really changed, and thankfully, neither had Cartman. It was a tiny fear of his, that while Kyle was away everything at home was changing and that he’d feel like a stranger in his own life upon returning to South Park. It was partially why he’d initially decided to stay at college for Thanksgiving break. 

He should have known better, upon reflection. In a way, he supposed he did. Had he really thought that Cartman was uninterested in him, he wouldn’t have put so much pressure on himself to make his surprise go well. The skype calls into two in the morning and constant barrage of texts should have really clued him in. But, Kyle was still unused to the idea that someone could be as romantically into him as he was for them, as it wasn’t something that had ever happened before Cartman. 

Sighing contentedly, Kyle’s eyes fluttered closed and he nuzzled in closer to Cartman. “Missed you.” he mumbled against his shirt. 

“I missed you, too.” Cartman answered, quietly.

**Author's Note:**

> my method for naming this fic was, "hm, can i make a high school musical reference?" and then i did. because i have no shame. kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated. thank you for reading!


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